Some Thoughts on Technology and the Church's Teachings
From the depths of his suffering, Job called out to God. He called out in the way that most of us do. Why, God, have these things happened to an innocent man? He asked God for an answer.
But God did not give him one. God said, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
Can a question be an answer? Are humans meant to be content with not knowing?
Most folks in the West would say no. We live in an information age. Information is about finding answers, and the Silicon Valley tech revolution may be one of the most creative responses humans have ever mounted to the mysteries of the universe.
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
Does God intend to keep us in ignorance, or is God impelling us toward growth?
The story of Job is the story of two powers: the power to destroy and the power to create. At times, as creation contains destruction and destruction can be creative, it is easy to mistake them. But they are not the same: destruction is the road that leads toward death, creation, the road that leads toward life. Free will gives us the ability to choose one, but it might not give us the ability to discern which is which, or where, along the continuum we might be.
So, in the spirit of Job, let me pose what I think is one of the most troubling paradoxes of tech.
Tech both reconciles and divides.
When it brings people together, tech is good. When it helps Africa on the road to being the first continent to be run on solar, or to be able to distill waste water into drinking water, it is good. But, when it drives people apart, it becomes dangerous. When it seals its employees into closed campuses, ferried from apartments only they can afford in closed buses, it separates the techies from those whom they would serve, and turns the servants of the story into its masters. The inequality spawned by tech has created a society in which some are valued while others are seen only in terms of the profits they generate for others. Some work and make a living while others cannot afford to live.
The work of the Church, at least when we are true to ourselves, has always been the work of reconciliation. God asks that we respect everyone from the Nobel Laureate to the janitor.
Inequality will always be with us. Separation does not have to be.
But God did not give him one. God said, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
Can a question be an answer? Are humans meant to be content with not knowing?
Most folks in the West would say no. We live in an information age. Information is about finding answers, and the Silicon Valley tech revolution may be one of the most creative responses humans have ever mounted to the mysteries of the universe.
"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
Does God intend to keep us in ignorance, or is God impelling us toward growth?
The story of Job is the story of two powers: the power to destroy and the power to create. At times, as creation contains destruction and destruction can be creative, it is easy to mistake them. But they are not the same: destruction is the road that leads toward death, creation, the road that leads toward life. Free will gives us the ability to choose one, but it might not give us the ability to discern which is which, or where, along the continuum we might be.
So, in the spirit of Job, let me pose what I think is one of the most troubling paradoxes of tech.
Tech both reconciles and divides.
When it brings people together, tech is good. When it helps Africa on the road to being the first continent to be run on solar, or to be able to distill waste water into drinking water, it is good. But, when it drives people apart, it becomes dangerous. When it seals its employees into closed campuses, ferried from apartments only they can afford in closed buses, it separates the techies from those whom they would serve, and turns the servants of the story into its masters. The inequality spawned by tech has created a society in which some are valued while others are seen only in terms of the profits they generate for others. Some work and make a living while others cannot afford to live.
The work of the Church, at least when we are true to ourselves, has always been the work of reconciliation. God asks that we respect everyone from the Nobel Laureate to the janitor.
Inequality will always be with us. Separation does not have to be.
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